may we all see Christmas trees as 30 feet tall

There has been only one Christmas – the rest are anniversaries.
-W.J. Cameron

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!
-O Holy Night

Christmas is a time when you get homesick – even when you’re home.
-Carol Nelson

Christmas gift suggestions:
To your enemy, forgiveness. (love your neighbor)
To an opponent, tolerance. (love your neighbor)
To a friend, your heart. (love your neigbhor)
To a customer, service.  (love your neighbor)
To all, charity.  (love your neighbor)
To every child, a good example. (aren’t we all children??  children of God?)
To yourself, respect. (1 Cor 6:19)
-Oren Arnold

Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas.
-Dale Evans

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.
-Dr. Seuss

There’s nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child.
-Erma Bombeck, I Lost Everything in the Post-Natal Depression

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree.  In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.
-Larry Wilde, The Merry Book of Christmas

Happy Birthday, baby Jesus!
Merry Christmas, loved ones!

..and may you always see Christmas trees as 30 feet tall..

Peace & Love,
ruby

the revolving door of love

dear Patricia,
dear Suzi,
dear Lucy and Co,
dear Ruby,
dear Kelli,
dear Jason,
dear David,
dear Emmanuel,
dear Dad,
dear family i’ve met, and am yet to meet, on the journey homeward bound,

hello.
goodbye.
i love you.
i remember you.
i’ll be seeing you.
THANK YOU.

God, PLEASE let the door hit me on the way out.. i never want to forget these faces.
and THANK YOU for the beautiful faces i get to see and do life with every day.

reminiscently yours,
ruby

p.s. dear Yve, i went out in my slippers tonight to see the moon, but couldn’t find it. however, i did see the stars in the crisp winter air, and also.. my breath. LOVE YOU!!

aloha, happy birthday

who’s got better surprises that God?

i have a work friend, who every time you see him, greets you with “aloha, happy birthday!”.. accompanied with a super grin (sincere to boot, i might add).

anyway, his greeting, combined with the passing of my own birthday not too long ago, have had me thinking about birthdays, gifts and surprises.. that leading to the pondering over the ‘gifts’ and ’surprises’ we receive not only once a year, but every second of every day. and then i found this picture last night, that was taken about a year ago from my window, of my most favorite tree.

i looked at the photograph, at eleven o’ clock in the night, then rose and walked over to my living room window.
i stared at the profile and contrast of my beautiful tree against my favorite color sky.
i thought of the red-orange leaves that had recently began following me into my apartment, each time i entered, and how pretty they looked against the white tile floor in my entryway.
i thought of the night before, the brief observance of december’s crisper air, and the fun i had finding myself lost for a moment in play, watching my warm breath cloud out in puffs, before disappearing back into the atmosphere.

breath- something that is always there, invisible.. yet one season a year, when you get to see it, is like the first time.. and if you let it, will transport you to the memory of The free place you’ve never been to.. you know, the Homeplace. what an amazing gift!

but sometimes, do seasons and winters fly by, blending into years (plural form), and we never see our breath.. ??

breath.. reminds me of faith-
it’s life-sustaining.
it’s always there.
some say you have to know it’s there and you can feel it, just try.. but i believe, like missing the beauty of our breath tufts against the winter air (and simply the miracle that we breathe at all), sometimes years bleed into decades, decades into entire lives, and we still miss it..

faith- many might say it can’t be seen, but i disagree.. if you’re wondering why, please refer to above evidence, go outside and smell a flower, hold an infant, study your own hands for a few minutes, or just. take. a. breath..

sigh. (good sort sigh)

so, who’s got better surprises than God?

no, sir, it’s really not a question at all.

look around you. you may be surprised to see what you’ve missed with your open eyes (i know i was. wait- *looks around*-i still am!!). then enjoy your gifts, your surprises.. but meditate on these things as you enjoy-
these gifts and surprises, well, they’re really not yours, you see, but ours.. so share them with the person next to you, or verbally over the phone lines with a far away friend, jot them down in a journal, or use them as motivation to get out of bed in the morning, to create, to connect.. and in that prayer-time and meditation, may you find joy in the perfect truth that the greatest gift of all may be found in the sharing of it.

God, help me to remember this.

oh! and wherever you may be, aloha, happy birthday..and thank you.. for letting me share my (correction: our) sunrise.. with you!

xo,
ruby